Lay The Table

Winter warmer: Hot apple juice mixer

We’ve been drinking a lot of hot drinks to keep us warm recently, we bought a load of mulled wine from the supermarket (yes we cheated) and when that was gone we moved on Pimm’s Winter which you drink with hot apple juice. During snow week when we couldn’t go to work, we searched the shops of Southsea for a bottle of it and couldn’t find any.

My housemate came back with a bottle of the delicious vanillery Lamb’s Spiced Rum which isn’t the cheapest but it tasted really nice with hot apple, and we put half a cinnamon stick in with the apple juice. Don’t put the alcohol in the pan, you’ll burn it off!

There’s a couple of other suggestions for spirits you should definitely try too: As a replacement for Lamb’s Spiced Rum, try Sailor Jerry Rum or for a more almond/caramel taste, why not use amaretto, like Disaranno.

Jan 14, 2010 | Drinks | Leave A Comment »

Apple Daim bar cheesecake

This was inspired by Creative Review’s tweet about Bailey’s cheesecake which is an adaptation of a Nigella Lawson recipe. I liked the idea of using Daim bar in the base, but I quite fancied cheesecake with apple as I’d never tried it. In fact, this is the first cheesecake I’ve ever made!

3hr 30mins – Prep time: 30mins – Cooking time: 1hr – Cooling time: 2hrs

{Serves: 3-4}

Ingredients

Cheesecake base

• 125g Oat biscuits (I used Hob Nobs)
• 125g Digestive biscuits
• 80g butter
• 3 Daim bars
• 1/2tsp cinammon
• pinch of salt

Cheesecake mixture

• 500g mascarpone cheese
• 100g soft cream cheese
• 3 eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1tsp vanilla essence)

Apple mixture

• 4tsp light brown sugar
• 1tbsp butter
• 1 bramley apple, peeled and sliced into 1cm pieces
• 1tsp cinammon

Instructions

1. Make the apple mixture. Melt the butter on a low heat in the saucepan and add the apple. Mix together and allow to cook for 1 minute before adding 2tsp light brown sugar.
2. Cover and allow to cook gently for 3-4 minutes when the apples will go soft. Stir in the cinnamon and remaining sugar. Leave to cool.
3. Make the cheesecake base. Take the Daim bars, put in a plastic bag and beat with a rolling pin until the Daim bars are in rough pieces.
4. Then add the biscuits to the bag and beat again until everything is in fine crumbs but not dust.
5. Melt the butter and combine with the biscuit crumbs in a medium size mixing bowl.
6. Add the cinnamon and salt and mix well.
7. In a 23cm springform pan, press the biscuit mixture down evenly in the bottom of the pan. Place in the fridge to chill.
8. Make the cheesecake mixture. In a large mixing bowl mix add the mascarpone cheese and soft cream cheese. Add each egg one at a time whisking until the mixture is smooth. Then whisk in the vanilla and caster sugar.
9. Add about half of the apple mixture to the cheesecake mixture and fold in.
10. Remove cheesecake base from the fridge and pour mixture on top.
11. By hand, gently add the remaining apple on top, then push into the mixture with a spoon
12. Place in the oven for about 50-60 mins or until the top is just browning.
13. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours. Store in the fridge. Serve with a dusting of cinnamon.

Aug 24, 2009 | Puddings | 2 Comments »